The Southern Letterpress is dedicated to the art and craft of letterpress printing and typography. Since 2012, we have offered our community a range of letterpress printing and design services from our women-owned-and-operated studio. We love unique and custom projects. Contact us for a consultation or personalized quote! Through our business practices and daily life in the Gulf South, The Southern Letterpress strives to contribute to our community by manifesting sustainable and equitable practices in consideration of race, gender, sexual orientation, and the fate of the natural world.

WHO WE ARE

Jessica Peterson is the printer and designer at The Southern Letterpress. Originally from Rochester, New York, she moved to Alabama in 2006 to earn an MFA from the University of Alabama’s Book Arts Program. She established The Southern Letterpress in 2012 in Columbus, Mississippi, with the mission to bring letterpress printing resources and education to her local community. The Southern Letterpress is now located in New Orleans, Louisiana in a building shared by Antenna’s Paper Machine.

Since 2016, Jessica has been learning about how motherhood intersections with small business ownership and printing.

THE STUDIO

The Southern Letterpress studio contains a Vandercook SP-15 from 1969, and an ancient Heidelberg windmill from 1953, and a small table top platen press from 1890. The studio holds around 80 typefaces in metal and wood type.

WHAT IS  LETTERPRESS PRINTING?

Letterpress printing is a relief printmaking process. The form of letters and words are impressed into the paper WHY DO WE LOVE LETTERPRESS PRINTING? The quality of exquisite, handmade letterpress-printed products is vital to us and our clients. We love using our early twentieth century machinery to produce designs that contain evidence of the human hand, a step away from the proliferation of digital screens. As a small studio, we have the ability to work closely with our clients to create prints with personality and lasting significance.  Our cards, stationery, hand-crafted and custom prints are used as art and affirmation. Our cards are tacked to walls, placed in frames, hung on bulletin boards, and savored by recipients for years.

Weddings

We love to work with couples to design and print their wedding suites. We specialize in non-traditional designs (link), but can design and print based on your inspiration and interests. Ask about our print-your-own workshops for couples, an opportunity to experience letterpress printing!

Letterpress products

The Southern Letterpress has an exclusive line of greeting cards, posters and stationery items for sale at retail locations around the South and at our etsy site.

Classes and Workshops

We educate about the craft and history of letterpress printing through public events and workshops in our studio. Check our upcoming opportunities here, and come print your own!